Cablegate: Niger: African Development Foundation Advises Of

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R 021657Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5608
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS NIAMEY 000090

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PGOV KDEM SOCI US NG
SUBJECT: Niger: African Development Foundation Advises of
Intention to Close Shop

1. (SBU) On January 29, African Development Foundation (ADF)
Regional Program Director Paul Olson (protect) and Field Office
Coordinator Venant Barampanze (protect) visited CDA and USAID
A/Country Program Manager to advise of ADF's intention to cease
operations in Niger as of the end of June 2010. Olson stated that
the decision came from Washington, and that current program would be
allowed to expire and his four staff would be separated from
service.

2. (SBU) Olson, and other ADF personnel, have visited post roughly
every three months over the past year and a half to inquire as to
local security conditions, the political situation, and programming
matters. Its project portfolio involves 14 water well improvements
and market garden projects (onions, peanut oil processing, seed
production, irrigated fruits and vegetables, and sesame production),
with a total project resource base of approximately $3 million and a
FY 09 budget of $1 million.

3. (SBU) Comment: This development comes as a surprise to post, as
ADF's projects appear to be within the realm of humanitarian
assistance and hence permissible in Niger's post-December 22, 2009
political environment. It is not clear if ADF's local challenges
affected this decision, or if it is entirely Washington-originated.
In 2009, ADF advised post that there were legal consequences
following its terminating a contract wherein the local contractor
had not accomplished its tasking, and in an unrelated incident ADF
terminated another contract due to financial irregularities. It is
possible that the small size of the program, taken together with the
difficulties of operating in Niger and the deteriorating political
situation, led to this decision. End comment.

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